Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in New Hampshire

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Common-form probate and the estate petition

The Circuit Court Probate Division has exclusive jurisdiction over will probate and estate administration. New Hampshire ordinarily allows an uncontested will in common form under RSA 552:6. The petitioner uses the statewide electronic Petition for Estate Administration, which asks the same filing to identify the will and request appointment as executor.

Solemn form is not simply a parallel first-filing label. RSA 552:7 permits an interested person to have probate that occurred without notice reexamined and the will proved in solemn form within six months. The court then hears execution, capacity, fraud, duress, or undue-influence issues.

RSA 547:3 supplies exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction, but the surveyed probate chapters do not state a fixed initial county hierarchy. The approved petition identifies the selected court and the decedent's residence. Once a case exists, Probate Division Rule 115 permits a county-to-county transfer for inconvenience, change of a principal party's residence, or other good cause, subject to both courts' action.

Petition fields and original documents

The current NHJB-2145-Pe petition asks for each petitioner's contact details, residency, relationship, and will-nominee status; the decedent's name, death, and residence; the will and requested office; unavailable prior nominees; living and deceased beneficiaries and substitute takers; the spouse and family line needed to identify heirs; New Hampshire real estate; estimated real and personal estate values; bond acknowledgment; and verified electronic signature.

RSA 552:5-a independently requires the surviving spouse and known heirs, their relationships, and known addresses with the appointment petition. For an original filing, the form says the e-file is incomplete until a certified death certificate and the original will and codicils are mailed to the Estates Electronic Filing Center.

Delivery and executor filing clocks

The custodian and nominee have different triggers. RSA 552:2 gives a custodian 30 days after learning of the death to deliver the will to the probate court or named executor. RSA 552:3 gives the named executor until the later of 30 days after death or 30 days after learning of the nomination to file it with the court.

If the estate has assets, the nominee must cause the will to be proved or file a written refusal. If it has no assets, the nominee files the will with no administration and provides the death certificate. Chapter 552 does not state a separate universal outside deadline for another interested person's probate petition.

Proof in common and solemn form

A qualifying self-proved will is allowed as such under RSA 552:5-b. For an uncontested non-self-proved will, RSA 552:6 permits common-form approval on one subscribing witness's testimony. Witness appearance also may be avoided if the surviving spouse, legatees, devisees, heirs, and any required charitable-trust official assent.

If attesting witnesses become incompetent or their testimony is unavailable, RSA 552:12 permits other satisfactory evidence. A deposition is separately available under RSA 547:26 for an out-of-state witness or someone unable to appear because of infirmity or another sufficient cause; it is not a universal affidavit substitute for every common-form case.

Notice, hearing, and reexamination

The current statewide form says the court sends an original petition to all interested parties at the supplied addresses. Common-form probate nevertheless can be a probate proved without notice for purposes of RSA 552:7's six-month reexamination right.

The solemn-form reexamination petition has a different procedure. RSA 552:8 requires personal notice to the executor if practicable, publication, and a hearing. If the probate is not confirmed, both the will and prior probate become void. RSA 552:9 gives specified minors, incapacitated persons, and persons outside the United States a separate one-year-after-disability route.

After appointment, RSA 553:16 directs the clerk to publish notice within 15 days, except when the estate's gross value is $10,000 or less. That later notice should not be confused with the proof needed to admit the will.

Executor, bond, and certificate

RSA 553:2 gives the will-named executor first appointment priority. The person must be of full age and suitable. A nonresident has no automatic right based on nomination alone, but the judge may appoint the person when other circumstances make it proper; once appointed, the nonresident must file a New Hampshire resident-agent appointment under RSA 553:25.

Bond is the statutory default. RSA 553:13 requires sufficient sureties or other security acceptable to the judge before administration, unless an exception or judicial waiver applies. An estate of $25,000 or less uses a personal bond without sureties. The judge may waive, increase, reduce, or otherwise adjust the security based on the circumstances.

The approved petition's order issues a certificate of appointment. When the court orders a corporate-surety bond first, the form supplies a 30-day filing period and warns that noncompliance may result in dismissal.

What trips people up

Solemn form is chiefly a reexamination route. The six-month clock runs from the probate proved without notice; it is not a generic six-month deadline for the initial estate petition.

The two 30-day will-delivery rules start differently. The custodian's clock starts with knowledge of death. The named executor receives the later of the death-based date or knowledge of the nomination.

A will does not itself waive statutory bond requirements. RSA 553:13 places waiver discretion with the judge. The current petition accordingly says the court may require a surety bond.

Common questions

What if the named executor files the will but does not present it for probate?

RSA 552:10 permits the surviving spouse or an heir to apply for the judge to allow or disallow the filed will after due notice. The decree has the same force as one entered on the executor's or another interested person's application.

What if the attesting witnesses cannot testify?

RSA 552:12 allows the will to be proved by other satisfactory evidence when the witnesses became incompetent or the court finds their testimony unavailable.

Can a nonresident named executor serve?

Potentially. RSA 553:5 makes the appointment discretionary when circumstances make it proper, and RSA 553:25 requires an appointed nonresident to file a written appointment of a New Hampshire resident agent.

Statutes and sources

• RSA 547:3 and Probate Division Rule 115 — exclusive probate jurisdiction and venue transfer.
• RSA 552:1 to :5-a — allowance requirement, custodian and executor clocks, neglect consequence, and spouse/heir list.
• RSA 552:5-b to :12 — self-proof, common form, solemn-form reexamination, hearing, later challenge, nonpresentation, and unavailable witnesses.
• RSA 553:1 to :5, :13, :16, and :25 to :28 — appointment priority, qualification, bond, appointment publication, and nonresident agent.
• NHJB-2145-Pe — mandatory statewide e-file petition, original-document mailing, verification, bond acknowledgment, and certificate order.

The statute quotations are from the official New Hampshire General Court Chapter 547, Chapter 552, and Chapter 553 pages. The form and rule are from the official New Hampshire Judicial Branch. All were accessed 2026-08-08.